Sofa bed



June 25, 1957 M. H. HARMAN SOFA BED Fild Feb. 26, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS J1me 1957 M. H. HARMAN 2,796,615

SOFA BED Filed Feb. 26', 1953 2 Shets-Sheet 2 F I G. 2.

2a z? I 5 7 '0\ I ap I 1 I INVENTOR MELVIN H. HARMAN MWMM W ATTORNEYS r 2,796,615 Ice Patented June 25, 1957 SOFA BED Melvin H. Harman, High Point, N. C., assignor to General Steel Products Company, Inc., High Point, N. C., a corporation of North Carolina Application February 26, 1953, Serial No. 339,901

2 Claims. (Cl. 547) This invention relates to sofa-beds and, more particularly, to that type of sofa-bed which utilizes a tensioning device to dimple or crease the covering material of the sofa along the adjacent edges of the seat and back cushions when converting the unit from bed to sofa.

In general, in sofa-beds of this type, the tensioning device comprises a pull strip of flexible material, one edge of which is attached to the sofa covering along the line of juncture between the seat and back cushions, the other edge being attached to a member which moves upon relative movement of the seat and back frames of the sofabed in a direction to apply tension to the pull strip when converting to the sofa position, thereby creasing or dimpling the covering material. Other sofa-beds of this type utilize a series of strands of flexible material attached at points spaced along the line of juncture of the seat and back frames, instead of a web or strip of flexible material.

In practically all sofa-beds utilizing a tensioning device, great difliculty has been experienced in achieving positive and reliable operation while keeping wear and damage of the parts, particularly the pull strip, to a In some embodiments, the tensioning of the pull strip is effected by complicated mechanisms requiring frequent repair or replacements. Other embodiments in attempting to overcome wear incorporate the pull strip as a permanent or semi-permanent part of the sofa-bed, making replacements diflicult. Still other arrangements require the sofa-bed manufacturer to assemble and install complex mechanisms which greatly add to the cost of the sofa-bed.

Accordingly, it is a major object of this invention to provide a manipulating mechanism for the pull strip which will reduce wear on the pull strip to a minimum, at the same time insuring positive, reliable operation of the pull strip at all times. Another object is to provide pull strip tensiouing apparatus which is incorporated in the sofabed hinge so the manufacturer need only attach the hinge to the sofa-bed frames in conventional fashion and thereby provide a tacking strip support automatically shiftable to tension the pull strip on relative movement of the hinge plates.

In the attainment of these objects, one important feature of the invention resides in the provision of a tacking strip extending parallel to the pivotal axis of the seat and back frames with the pull strip attached to the tacking strip. The tacking strip, in turn, is carried by brackets which are connected to either the seat frame or the back frame of the sofa-bed and which form a part of the manipulating mechanism actuated upon relative movement of the seat and back frames to move the tacking strip toward or away from the contiguous edges of the back and seat cushions and thereby release or apply tension to the pull strip.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pull strip manipulating mechanism which is simple in operation and consists of a relatively few moving parts, thereby obviating the necessity of frequent repairs or replacement of parts.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a plan view of a sofa-bed embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing the position of the actuating mechanism when the sofa-bed is in sofa position;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation view showing the position of the actuating mechanism when the sofa-bed is in bed position; and 3 Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the supports for the tacking strip.

Generally, the preferred form of the invention includes back and seat hinge plates for attachment to the back and seat frames of the sofa bed. The hinge plates are pivotally connected together and are also pivoted to a pair of links connected to the base of the bed in a wellknown manner for shifting the back and seat frames relative to the base when moving from the sofa position through intermediate positions to the-bed position and vice versa. One of the hinge plates has pivoted thereon a hinge latching arm, the free end of which has a notch for engaging an abutment on the other hinge plate to lock the hinge plates in fixed angular relation corresponding to the angular relation thereof when the back and seat frames are in sofa position.

In accordance with the invention, a pull strip of resilient material has one edge attached to the covering material of the sofa-bed along the line formed by the adjacent edges of the seat and back cushions. The other end of this pull strip is connected to a tacking strip which extends across the Width of the sofa, parallel to the pivotal axis of the seat and back frames and likewise parallel to the line of attachment of the pull strip to the covering material. Mechanism for manipulating the tacking strip and thereby adjust the tension of the pull strip includes a bracket member pivotally attached to one of the hinge plates and having a platform thereon to which the tacking strip is secured. An elongate slot is provided in the bracket member, said slot being engaged by a pin which is carried by a manipulating arm mounted on the other hinge plate. Relative movement of the seat and back frames will result in a relative movement of the hinge plates, such relative movement actuating the manpulating mechanism by causing the pin in the manipulating arm to move in the slot of the bracket member, causing it to pivot about its pivot point, thereby moving the tacking strip in such a manner as to apply tension to the pull strip when the unit is being converted to a sofa, or to release tension on the pull strip when the unit is being converted to a bed.

Turning now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. l a sofa-bed having hinge assemblies A and B at either side thereof. Each hinge assembly has, as a part thereof, a manipulating mechanism for a pull strip. Inasmuch as hinge assemblies A and B are identical in every respect except that one is right hand and the other is left hand, it will not only be necessary to describe the invention by reference to one of these assemblies.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 I have shown a base i1 of a sofabed having attached thereto a supporting bracket 12. A pair of links 13 and 14 are pivotally connected to the supporting brackets 12 at pivot points 15 and 16, respectively. Links 13 and 14 shiftably support a back hinge plate 17 and a seat hinge plate 18 which are pivotally connected together at 19 and are attached to back frame 20 and seat frame 21, respectively, of the sofa bed. Mounted on seat frame 21 and back frame 20 are seat cushion 1 and back cushion 2, respectively, which in the preferred embodiment, are covered by sofa covering mav 3 2 terial 25. Link 13 is pivotally connected to back hinge plate 17 at point 22. Link 14 is pivotally connected to the pivot point 19 of the hinge plates.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the back and seat frames 20 and 21 are in the seat or sofa position, being locked in this position by a hinge locking mechanism 23 of the general type disclosed in my United States Letters Patent No. 2,495,413, issued January 24, 1950. When in this position, a pull strip 24 acts to crease the covering material 25 along the juncture line 26 of seat and back cushions 1 and 2, respectively. Pull strip 24 is attached to a tacking strip 27 which acts to maintain tension on the pull strip in a manner which will be explained hereinafter. Tacking strip 27 is carried by a bracket member 28'which is pivotally connected to'hinge plate 17 at a point 29. In order that tacking strip 27 may maintain tension on pull strip 24 when in the seat position, a slot 30 is provided in bracket 28. This slot 30 is engaged by a pin 31- carried by a manipulating arm 32 which is mounted on hinge plate 18 by means 'of a mounting bracket 33. 7

When shifting from the seat position as shown in Fig. 2 to the bed position as shown in Fig. 3, back frame 20 moves counter-clockwise about pivot point 19 relative to seat frame 21. When this occurs relative movement of hinge plates 17 and 18 will also take place, which will in turn, actuate the manipulating mechanism by It is readily apparent that various rearrangements of parts may be made to the embodiment as shown without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. in a sofa-bed having a seat frame and a back frame, seat and back cushion members respectively mounted on said frame; a hinge for permitting movement of said frames between seat and sofa positions comprising a ,pair of hinge plates pivotally connected together and adapted to be mounted on said seat and back frames, releasable latch means for maintaining said hinge plates in seat position, a bracket pivotally mounted on one of said hinge pIates for supporting a tacking strip, ex-

tending parallel to the juncture line of said seat and back cushion members, said bracket being formed with an elongated slot, a pin fixed on the other of said hinge plates and engaged in said elongated slot for manipulatcausing relative movement between bracket 28 and manipulating arm 32. When this occurs pin 31 will move in slot 39 in a manner to pivot bracket 28 about its pivot point 29 to the bed position as shown in Fig. 3. This acts to move the tacking strip closer to the juncture line 26 thereby decreasing the tension inv pull strip 24 sufficiently to allow the covering material 25 to be smoothed out, presenting a smooth surface when the sofa-bed is in the bed position. I

When shifting from the bed position of Fig. 3 to the seat position of Fig. 2, the relative clockwise movement of back frame 20 with respect to seat frame 21 and pivot point 19 causes bracket 28 to rotate about its pivot 29 due to the relative. movement of bracket 28 with respect to manipulating arm 32 in a clockwise direction as seen inFig. 3, thereby moving tacking strip 27 away from juncture line 26, thereby applying tension to pull strip 24 which in turn creases the covering material 25 along juncture line 26.

In practice, the pull strip extends the entire width of the sofa, and likewise the tacking strip 27, permitting the use of bracket members at both sides of the sofa, in order that the most reliable and efficient operation may be obtained. It is to be understood however, that in certain embodiments only one manipulating mechanism may be needed. v

ing said bracket about its pivot upon relative movement of said hinge "plates from bed to sofa position in a manner to tension a pull strip connecting the tacking strip to contiguous edges of said cushions.

2.In a sofa bed having a seat frame and a back frame, seat and back cushion members respectively mounted on said frame; a hinge for permitting movement of said frame between seat and sofa positions comprising a pair of hinge plates pivotally connected together and adapted to bemounted on said seat and back frames, releasable latch means for maintaining said hinge plates in seat position, a bracket having a lever arm pivotally mounted on one of said hinge plates and formed with an elongated slot, said bracket having a platform integral with said lever arm for supporting a tacking strip extending parallel to the juncture line of said seat and back cushion members, a rigid manipulating arm on the other hinge plate, a pin on said'manipulating arm engaging in said slot for manipulating said bracket about its pivot upon relative movement of said hinge plates from bed to sofa position in a manner to tension a pull strip connecting thetacking strip to contiguous edges of said cushions. I

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Great Britain Aug. 23, 1923 

